The Opinion of One Can Persuade a Group: A Case of Minority Influence

Sample

When one thinks of persuasion in groups, some visible cases come to mind: The Jonestown Massacre, the space shuttle Challenger disaster, and the O. J. Simpson criminal trial. In each of these cases, members of a group were persuaded by arguments and pressure from others to change either their attitudes or their behavior. In the case of the Jonestown Massacre, hundreds of members of the Peoples Temple were influenced, some unwillingly, by group pressure and leader orders to commit suicide. After the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all on board, investigations revealed strong pressure on dissenters to agree to a launch that cold morning. Finally, the jurors in the O. J. Simpson criminal trial were sequestered for over eight months, yet deliberated for only four hours to deliver a unanimous “not guilty” verdict. Arguments from the ten jurors initially favoring acquittal quickly persuaded the two holdouts to change their mind.